Cabot's 'Princess' Fantasy

Author Meg Cabot Pens Her Fifth Installment Of 'The Princess Diaries' Series

(CBS)  Meg Cabot is the best-selling author of the critically acclaimed series "The Princess Diaries," about an awkward high school freshman who finds out she's really a princess.

In the fifth and latest installment, "Princess in Pink," Mia tries to figure out a way to go to the senior prom.

Click here to read a chapter excerpt from the book.

Wearing a tiara and sparkly shoes, Cabot tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm she is still a teen at heart.

“I never quite grew out of that phase. I think, because my teen years were just so horrible,” Cabot says, “And I kept wishing it would turn out I was a princess, or something, to alleviate the tremendous boredom. It never happened so I threw it all into my book.”

About her heroine, she points out Mia is a feminist. “She’s all for feminist advancement. But there’s a little part of her, and I think in all of us, that really wants to go to the prom and have one perfect night. That’s all she wants. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for a while there in that book.”

Each of Cabot’s books takes about two weeks out of Mia’s life, as recorded in her diary. And though filmmakers are having a hard time reaching the teen audience, Cabot is succeeding with her books.

"The Princess Diaries," which was made into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, proved to be quite a success for Disney. Asked why her stories are touching this particular group, Cabot responds, “I kind of feel, like, it’s the voice.

"I feel, sadly, because I am stuck in 19 years mentally. I think that the books have a genuine teen voice and that really comes out. And also she’s an underdog. She’s a girl who is failing at algebra, has a boyfriend who wasn’t going to take her to the prom. Girls can relate to that and not so much of a Cinderella story. It’s not completely unrealistic. There are parts that are very much grounded in stuff that actually happened to me in high school,” Cabot says.

And yet the author is now living her own Cinderella story. She says, “I wrote the first book at work and lived in a little studio apartment, and now I’m writing full-time. I have a great place to live. It’s so amazing, the fact that so many girls are reading these books…”

Storm notes that these books have come under criticism because of the unrealistic notion that you get a makeover and your life changes.

"That is not really what the books are about," Cabot continues, “But incorporating random "princess" acts - being kind and gracious to others, learning a foreign language - can impact your life in a positive way and make it better. It’s about how you act, not how you look.”

Cabot notes she gets about 200 e-mails a day from girls, who say what they really want is to be popular.

“I try to tell them it doesn’t matter,” Cabot says, “That that’s like such a microcosm of life in high school and what happens isn’t really going to affect you in later years and you’re going to be fine and not to worry about it. It’s better to have good friends than popular friends. Hopefully, they’re getting the message. That’s the message of the books.”

The movie sequel to “The Princess Diaries” comes out this summer and though Cabot did not write it, she says, “I read the script and it’s adorable. I think it might even be better than the first one. It’s so cute. ‘Princess Story 2’ is great.”